NEW YORK — A Long Island architect pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing and dismembering seven women over three decades in local beach communities, following an extensive investigation into one of this state’s most notorious serial killings.
Rex Heuermann, 62, who had initially been arrested in 2023, made his plea during a hearing in Suffolk County, New York, in which he confessed to graphic crimes. Heuermann was charged in the deaths of seven and admitted in court that he had also killed an eighth woman.
Heuermann is expected to face three consecutive life sentences as well as an additional 100 years behind bars, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
The murders began in 1993 and continued through 2010. Heuermann said he deposited the remains of many of his victims near Gilgo Beach, a barrier island near southern Long Island. The case rose to national prominence after police discovered the remains of the women near the beach in late 2010 and 2011.
For more than a decade, the cases remained cold, and investigators were hampered by infightingover how to resolve them. Women’s advocacy group also raised concerns that investigators were not handling the cases properly because some of the victims were sex workers.
The case picked up steam in 2022 when investigators linked a vehicle that had been registered to Heuermann to the scene of one of the killings. As police began monitoring Heuermann, investigators in January 2023 recovered an abandoned pizza box from a New York City garbage can that included his unfinished crusts. DNA from the crust was then linked to male hair found on one of his victims.
The finding propelled the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office to charge Heuermann with the deaths of four woman in July 2023. A year later, Heuermann was charged with two other killings. He had initially pleaded not guilty to those crimes.
Prosecutors had alleged that a search of Heuermann’s home also turned up a document he used to “methodically blueprint and plan out his kills with excruciating detail.”
That document showed Heuermann’s “intent was specifically to locate these victims, to hunt them down and to bring them under his control and to kill them,” prosecutors said 2024.
In the plea agreement Heuermann signed Wednesday, he admitted that he killed Sandra Costilla, in November 1993. Heuermann picked up Costilla, 28, in his vehicle and then strangled her before leaving her body in Southampton.
Heuermann confessed to killing Karen Vergata, 34. Heuermann strangled Vergata in 1996 and then dismembered her body, according to the district attorney’s office. He then transported Vergata’s remains to various locations.
Although some of Vergata’s remains were discovered in 1996, her skull was not discovered for another 15 years, in the Gilgo Beach area. She was not identified until 2023 after genetic screening.
In the fall of 2000, Heuermann drove to pick up Valerie Mack, who was 24. He strangled her and then dumped her remains at two different locations including Gilgo Beach, prosecutors said.
Some of her remains were discovered by hunters in November 2000, but others were not discovered until 2011 near Gilgo Beach. Mack was positively identified in 2020.
In July 2003, Heuermann also strangled and dismembered Jessica Taylor, 20, and scattered her remains in two locations, according to the district attorney’s office. Some of her remains were discovered a few days later, but others were not found until 2011.
Heuermann admitted to killing his next victim in July 2007 after seeing an online advertisement from Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who was 25.
After he arranged a meeting with her, Heuermann strangled her and then wrapped her body in three belts, the district attorney’s office said. Her remains were discovered in 2010 near Gilgo Beach.
Heuermann killed sex worker Melissa Barthelemy, 24, in 2009, the district attorney’s office said. He then wrapped her body in burlap and tape and left it near Gilgo Beach.
Heuermann also used burlap and tape to transport the body of Megan Waterman, 22, whom he killed during the summer of 2010 after the two met at a Holiday Inn, the district attorney’s office said. Waterman’s body was discovered six months later near Gilgo Beach.
Heuermann killed his final known victim in September 2010. He had driven to pick up Amber Costello, 27, at her home and then strangled her, the district attorney’s office said. He then disposed of her remains near Gilgo Beach.
The post Gilgo Beach suspect pleads guilty, admits killing 8 women over 3 decades appeared first on Washington Post.
